Downtown Rebranding Project

Downtown Corsicana is asking artists, retailers, owner-developers, creative services professionals and consumers to “Create History Here!” The tagline is part of a new brand, developed by a four-person task force comprised of partners from the City, the school district and the downtown community.

The project addressed the goal identified in the Strategic Plan for Downtown Development (November, 2011) of “Changing the negative market perception and lack of consumer traffic in the downtown district.” The strategy for achieving this is to increase the volume of consumer traffic in a consistent and manageable way. Rebranding downtown Corsicana in a manner that conveys its points of differentiation was a tactic employed. The team, consisting of Main Street director Steve Dieterichs, economic development director Lee McCleary, Corsicana ISD executive director for communications, PR and marketing Susan Johnson, and graphic designer Heidi Frieder, followed a five-step brand strategy development process that resulted in a logo, tagline and eight marketing messages.

The Art Nouveau-influenced, rectilinear logo design incorporates the iconic, eight-story State National Bank Building (ca. 1926) with search lights reminiscent of 1920s era Hollywood. The black-gold color scheme is a nod to Corsicana’s heritage as the birthplace of the Texas oil industry.